president obama and house speaker john boehner met privately sunday in a surprise meeting, but they're not commenting much in public on whether there's been much progress. joining me now is political science professor and political chief correspondent for politics 365, jason johnson, and republican strategist, ron bon john. some say the fact that we're not hearing much of washington is a good sign, and in this case, silence is golden. you guys agree? >> yeah, i definitely do. look, one of the things that we've got to realize here is that the more that this fight takes place in public, the less is being done behind closed doors, because everyone feels that they have to justify the public rhetoric. so i think that we have two silences going on. there's barack obama and john boehner working things out and the republicans realizing that they've got to find a way to negotiate. so silence is golden for christmas season. >> do you agree, ron bonjean? >> yes, i completely agree. i think that silence is best. and right now while they're figuring out how to put a deal together, i think the presi